Operating mechanism for doors



Dec. 13, 1932. W A, NEESE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR DOORS Filed Feb. 4, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet l W. A. NEESE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR DOORS F'led Feb. 4, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 21/, e v MAJVEEEE Dec. 13, 1932.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 W. A. NEESE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR DOORS Filed Feb. 4, 1931 Dec. 13, 1932.

awe/WEI fl IA' NEE5E V shown in the accompanying Patented Dec. 13, 1932 UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. NEESE, 0F HARTLAND, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN W.

HARLING, OF

HARTLAND, WISCONSIN OI'EBATI'NG MECHANISM FOR DOORS Application filed February 4, 1931. Serial No. 513,332.

This invention relates to improvements in operating mechanism for doors.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of an improved type of op- .erating mechanism for use in opening an closing garage doors and the like, whereby the mechanism is automatically controlled so that a push button can be used for sett1ng the mechanism in motion for opening and closing the doors.

Another object of the present invention 1s the provision of operating mechanism of the above character which includes mechanism operated by fluid under pressure for controlling the movement of the doors and electrically controlled means for controlling the flow of the fluid so that the doors can be opened and closed at the will of the operator.

A further object of the present invention .is the provision of improved operating mechanism for movable doors which can be applied either to swinging or slidable doors for quickly moving the doors to an openedposition or returning them to a closed position.

\Vith the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel features of construction, the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in the cla1ms and drawings where- Figure 1 is a top plan view, showing my improved mechanism applied to oppositely swinging doors; 7

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the control mechanism for the fluid;

Figure 3 is a front elevation showing the application of the device to the doors;

Figure l is a longitudinal section of the fluid cylinders with the cooperating parts;

Figure 5 is a detailed section of the cylinder; and,

Figure 6 is a side elevation illustratlng a slightly modified form of the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 and 2 indicate opposed garage doors which are mounted on suitable hinges 3 for swinging movement in opposite directions. Arranged directly above the doors 1 and 2,

is a supporting plate 4, having apertured bearing brackets 5 extending laterally from each end thereof. Arranged intermediate the ends of the plate 1 is a cylinder 6 which is provided at its intermediate portion with spaced openings 7 adapted to receive bolts whereby the cylinder may be securely bolted to the plate 4.

The cylinder 6 is provided with opposed chambers 8 and 8 in which reciprocate the pistons 9 and 9. The piston rod 10 of piston 9 is connected at its outer end to a cross bar 11, and attached to the ends of the cross bar 11 are rods 12 which pass through suitable apertures in the guide members 13 and are connected at their other ends by means of a cross head 14, provided with spaced apertured ears 15.

The piston 9 has attached thereto a piston rod 10 and connected to the outer end of the k rod 10 is a cross piece 11. Connected to the cross piece 11 are the spaced rods 12 and the other ends of rods 12 pass through suitable apertures in the cross piece 11 and are connected to a cross head 14; which in turn has attached thereto the spaced apertured ears 15. At this point, I wish to call attention to the fact that the rods 12 are arranged upon the outside of the rods 12 and pass through suitable apertures in the, cross piece 11. i

From this, it will be apparent that the cross pieces 11 and 11 provide a support or guide for the outer ends of the rods 12 and 12.

The rods 12 also pass through suitable apertures in the guide members 13, as shown I in Figure 4, and arranged adjacent the cylinder 6. Upon the interior of the cylinder 6 there is provided a comparatively thick partition 16 which has a central longitudinal aperture 17 whlch forms direct communication between the two chambers 8 and 8. The cylinder is also provided at each end with a closure cap 18, through which the pistons 10 and 10 reciprocate and which form the closures for the ends of the chambers 8 and 8. Each chamber 8 and 8 is provided with an exhaust or outlet 19 whereby, when the pistons are forced to their outward positions, as

shown in Figure 4, the air behind the pistons 1 a will pass out through these openings.

Mounted in the bearings at the ends of the plate 4 are the upright stub shafts and attached to these shafts above the bearings 5 are the sprockets 21 around which the sprocket chains 22 pass. The sprocket chain, at one end of the plate 4 has one end attached to the apertured ears 15 by link 22, while the other chain is attached to the apertured cars 15 by link 22a. However, the inner ends of both chains are connected to the coil springs 23 and these coil springs in turn are connected to links 24. The links 24 are attached to the outer ends of lateral ears 25 which project outwardly from the cylinder 6 adjacent each end thereof. From this construction, it will be apparent that a direct connection between the piston rods and the links 24 is provided for.

However, the link at one end of the cylinder is connected to the piston rod at the opposite end of the cylinder, so that when the pistons 9 and 9 are forced outwardly in their chambers, the sprockets 21 will be rotated in the proper direction.

Attached to the lower ends of stub shafts 20 are the arms 25, the outer ends of which are connected to links 26 which in turn are connected to the doors 1 and 2 through the medium of the brackets 27 which are attached to the doors adjacent the upper ends thereof. Communicating with the longitudinal aperture 17 in the cylinder is the inlet 28, and extending into this inlet is a fluid conductor 29 connected up with a cross pipe 30 which has one end in communication with the chamber 31, and the other end in communication with the chamber 31.

The chamber 31 communicates with a supply pipe 32 whereby fluid under pressure may be connected up with the chamber 31 and arranged within chamber 31 is a spring pressed valve 33 which normally closes communication between the cross pipe 30 and the chamber 31. The valve 33 is provided with an additional stem 34 which bears against an actuating pin 35.

The chamber 31 has communication with an exhaust pipe 36 and within chamber 31 is a spring-pressed valve 33 normally closing communication between chamber 31 and the exhaust pipe 36. The valve 33 has a stem 34 adapted to be engaged by an actuating pin It will be noted from the showing in Figure 2, that the pins 35 and 35 have their outer ends arranged in close proximit to the head 37 011 one end of a rockable arm 38. The other end of the arm 38 is provided with a fork 39 engaging a pin 40 carried by the intermediate portion of the solenoid core 41. This solenoid core 41 has its ends extending into the two solenoids 42 and 43 which may be electrically connected with push buttons or other suitable type of switches for completing a circuit to the solenoids. The solenoids and the parts associated therewith are enclosed within a suitable housing 44.

it will be apparent from the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying d 'awings, that in operating my improved device, the solenoid 42 is energized, causing the core 41 to move therein, rocking the arm 38, so that the head 37 thereof will engage pin As the pin 35 moves longitudinally, it will unseat the valve 33, permitting fluid under pressure to pass into the cross pipe 30 and through the conduit 29 and due to its connection with both chambers 8 and 8, fluid under pressure will be simultaneously forced into both chambers. This movement will impart movement to the chains 22, rotating sprockets 21, and stub shafts 20, which will in turn rock the arms 25 and the links 26 for moving the doors 1 and 2 to an open position, as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 1. Attention is directed to the fact that the movement of the pistons may be controlled through the length of the chambers 8 and 8, so that the doors 1 and 2 may be swung to various degrees of open positions, or in other words, one position is illustrated by dotted lines in Figure 1, while through increasing the length of the chambers 8 and 8, the doors may be swung to a position where they will lie against or be arranged closely adjacent the outer wall of the building.

hen it is desired to close the doors, the solenoid 43 is energized, rocking the arm 38 in the opposite direction and actuating pin 35 which will unseat the valve 33, so that the fluid under pressure within the chambers 8 and 3 can be exhausted through the pipe 36. Normally after the doors have been moved to an open position and the switch closed to the solenoid 42, the valve 33 will move to its seated position to retain the fluid within the chambers 8 and 8, so as to maintain the doors in an opened position until the solenoid 43 is energized for exhausting the fluid.

In Figure 6, I have illustrated a modified form of the invention for use in connection with sliding doors indicated at 40. In this form of the invention, the door 40 is movable in a vertical plane with its edges riding in the U-shaped guides 41.

In this form of the invention shown in Figure 6, a bracket plate 42 is attached to the garage or other building adjacent the door and supports a cylinder 43 in which is mounted reciprocating piston 44 connected to a cross piece 45 to which the rods 46 are attached. These rods 46 have a cross head 47 at the other end, connected up to the sprocket chain 48 which operates over a sprocket 49 on shaft 50. Connected to the shaft 50 is an angular arm 51 provided at its outer end with a slot 52 receiving a pin 53 carried by the door.

Attached to the sprocket chain 48 is a spring 54, the end of which is connected to the apertured ear 55 carried by the bracket 42. It will be apparent from this construction, that when compressed fluid is admitted to one end of the cylinder 43, the piston 44 will be actuated therein to rotate the sprocket 4:9 and move arm 51 to the dotted line position shown in Figure 6, which may be either the opened or the closed position of the door. If the pin 33 is carried by the lower end of the door, the door will be opened when the arm 51 is in its raised position, as shown by the dotted lines.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the improved operating mechanism can be attached to either the swinging or the sliding doors and by admitting fluid under pressure to the cylinders, the mechanism attached to the doors will move the doors to an opened position and by exhausting the fluid from the cylinders, the doors will move to a closed position. In the preferred form of the invention, the tension of the springs 23 will return the doors to their closed position, while in the modified form, shown in Figure 6, the spring 54: will return the door to its closed position. This operating mechanism is comparatively simple and can be easily applied and is of a nature whereby the doors may be quickly opened and closed with very little effort on the part of the operator, and it is thought that the device will prove very efficient for its purpose and can be readily installed.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent from the foregoing that slight changes may be made in the construction when putting the invention into practice without departing from the spirit of the same or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Door operating mechanism including a cylinder having aligned chambers therein communicating with one another, pistons movable in said cylinders, cross heads having connection with the pistons, with each cross head having connection with the piston at the opposite end of the cylinder, a rotatable shaft disposed beyond each end of the cylinder, a sprocket carried by each shaft, toggle links connecting each shaft with a door, chains passing around said sprockets and having one of their ends connected with the cross heads, a tension spring connected to the other end of each chain, means for introducing fluid into the cylinder for actuating the pistons and cross heads to rotate said shafts and open said doors placing the springs under tension, means for relieving the pressure within the cylinder whereby the tension of said springs will return the door to a closed position.

2. Door operating mechanism including a cylinder, a door adjacent the cylinder, a pisa shaft, an arm thereon connected with the door, a sprocket on the shaft, a chain mounted upon the sprocket having one end connected with the piston, a tension spring connected to the other end of the chain, said tension spring being attached to a fixed support, and means for actuating talle piston in the cylinder for opening said oor.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Hartland, in the county of Waukesha, and State of Wis- WILLIAM A. NEESE.

ton in the cylinder,

consin. 

